Wednesday, July 18, 2018

How Aaptiv is Helping Me Improve as a Runner

Today I want to share one of my favorite apps that I have on my phone and use almost every day ----->Aaptiv, and how I use it for my running. I first heard of aaptiv when they reached out to me asking if I'd like a free trial. They weren't looking for a review in exchange or anything, in fact, everyone can get a free month trial on it. They just reached out thinking it would be something that would help my training after they had seen the blog. So I said I definitely wanted to try it out.

At first, my thought was that it would be an app that I could use for strength training but I'd still be working on running on my own. But I was really excited to see that they have programs for runners. So I figured I'd give that out a try for my free month because I was wanting to train for a 10k and they had a plan for that.

They have several different options for running training, outdoor, treadmill, 5k, 10k, half marathon and full marathon, and then they have running programs from beginner up to advanced, along with a lot of strength training programs, cycling and more. There really is something for everyone.

I was interested to see how it was going to work because I'd done at home workouts on TV and on other apps like Grokker, but I didn't know how it was going to work for running. Here's what I found out. Aaptiv has a lot of awesome trainers who go to a studio and record themselves talking you through your workout with music. I put my headphones in and do what they tell me to do. It's like having a trainer or running buddy right there with you the whole time to tell you what to focus on next, cheering you one, and helping you stay strong.

My favorite running trainer is Rochelle. She has great music and great motivation every time. She breaks the run up into sets and a lot of times while you're running, she will give you one thing to focus on for each set. So it keeps your mind busy and helps you feel the progress of the workout. Sometimes it feels like your workout will never end, and the way she breaks the workouts up helps you feel like you're getting things done.

When I set the goal to run a 10k, I also set a goal to do it in under 50 minutes. I felt like that was pretty average for a 10k. I didn't enter an actual 10k but I timed myself on the treadmill and ended up running it in 48 minutes. So that's not an official time or anything, but I was pleased that I didn't only meet my goal but I surpassed it by two minutes--something I know I wouldn't have done without the help from Aaptiv. And I plan on getting an official time for a 10k in the near future.

After getting injured and not being ready in time for the race I was planning on, I decided to go bigger and do a half marathon instead of a 10k. I've been training for that for a few months now and have used the training program with Aaptiv for the majority of my training. I do try to do my long runs without music, or the app just because the race I'm doing is a USATF race and doesn't allow headphones (though I'm pretty sure they aren't super strict about it). Aaptiv's half marathon training plan and the full both have full training guides that you can find on the app by clicking the "view training guide" at the top of the plan's page. It breaks literally every day up for you so there's no guessing in what you're going to do next.

Another thing I like about Aaptiv is that you can skip workouts and come back to them or you can redo workouts that you really liked. You can also download the workouts which comes in handy this time of year when we go camping but I don't want to miss out on my run. I don't have to worry about not having access to the internet or wifi because it's downloaded on my phone. And as a new feature on their app, you can now search for specific workouts by the trainer, muscle group, type of run, length of the workout etc. It makes finding what you need for each day super easy and takes out that much more work for the prep time in your workout.

If you're looking for a good training plan, an alternative to a personal trainer, or even just new motivation to get going again, I highly suggest aaptiv. They have so many options and so many different trainers to help you out!

Do you have any favorite workout apps?Have you ever worked with a trainer or coach?

3 comments:

Hey Jenny! I currently use fitstar with my fit bit but was wondering with apptiv could you load Work outs on to an Apple Watch and do them “phone free”? I’m trying to streamline my running and just got a Fitbit versa (I really like the Fitbit line of devices) but was pretty bummed when I couldn’t do audio workouts with it... they may be coming but was interested in if apptiv could be used with an Apple Watch! Also- great time for your treadmill 10k!!!! Thanks! Autumn

Yes! It does work on Apple Watch as of 2017. I can’t say exactly how that will be compared to the phone since I don’t have one but I’m sure it would work pretty similarly. Let me know if you end up using it, how you like it! I a great day Autumn!

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